Fomo3D: The Psychological Experiment Crypto-lottery

With the recent rise in popularity surrounding applications on the Ethereum network, a somewhat questionable blockchain project has recently been released, it’s called FOMO3D. FOMO3D, deriving its name from the acronym FOMO (fear of missing out), is a self-described “lottery where the house advantage always goes to the players.” The premise of the lottery game revolves around the purchase of ‘keys’ with ETH, some ETH entering into the pot, some being distributed as dividends, and a portion of ETH reserved for future game pot’s and to support the ecosystem. When a key is purchased, additional time is added to the countdown clock that, once it reaches zero, signals the conclusion of the game. The last person to purchase a key becomes the recipient of 48% of the pot’s ETH. Thus, theoretically, games could last as long as people continue to buy keys. As key purchasers’ likely goal of participating in the game is to win the pot outright, early round key buyers are incentivized to participate to garner dividends from subsequent buyers. However, key holders aren’t the only ones collecting interest from FOMO3D transactions. A parallel cryptocurrency exchange, PoWH3D, also receives dividends from key purchases. FOMO3D participants who hold P3D tokens are thus more likely to fair well as they will collect dividends from both their key purchase, and their P3D tokens.

Additionally, upon the purchase of a key, participants choose one of four “teams” with differing ETH distributions into the pot, F3D Players, and P3D Holders. Your team choice determines both the initial allocation of the ETH used to purchase the key, as well as the remaining 50% of the pot left after the game – ETH not going to the community bank fund or game winner. Team Snek boasts the most dividends, team Whale places the most ETH in the pot, team Bull displays a more balanced distribution, and team Bear maximizes the ETH to the current round.

While every detail regarding the game is explained on FOMO3D Wiki, I can’t help but feel that this crypto-gambling ecosystem seems more like a money-making ploy than a legitimate way for participants to earn ETH. Two days after release, it is already the number one decentralized app on DappRadar. In addition to self-identifying as a player-oriented lottery, FOMO3D also claims they are a psychological social experiment in greed. As the game is completely decentralized, and acting as a clear metaphor for an ICO, FOMO3D’s results could provide some interesting information of greed’s role within an unregulated, decentralized platform.

FOMO3D’s close association with POWH3D makes the lottery appear as more of ploy to fuel the exchange and its token with additional liquidity, rather than provide participants the potential to turn a profit.

While the players do garner dividends from additional key purchases or by holding P3D tokens, the payout is about as small as your chance of winning the pot.

Self-motivation will drive participants’ decision making and, as shown through other unregulated and decentralized digital ecosystems, some stability issues may arise. I believe the key to a successful and stable crypto community will come with the implementation of non-intrusive governance and incentive alignment between ecosystem operators and participants. Will FOMO3D’s experiment yield positive results and leave its participants satisfied?

Or will key-holders walk away feeling as though their fear of missing out got the best of them? I guess we’ll just have to wait to find out. I can’t say that I’d ever consider participating in Fomo3D; However, with a current pot of 21,538.72 ETH, it’ll certainly be fascinating to follow along.